The Hive Effect
Many Minds.One Hive. Every Cell Connected
A non‑profit community and environmental project reconnecting people with nature — and with each other.
Corrupt land
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- THE LAND GRAB -
SANDWELL COUNCIL HAVE BEEN STEALING OUR PUBLIC ASSETS AND SELLING THEM TO PRIVATE BUYERS FOR DECADES.
Sandwell Council's relentless actions over the past few decades have pillaged our precious public green spaces, parks, and cherished allotments, leaving a trail of lost land in their wake. Motivated by nothing but greed, spite, and the insatiable demand for private housing, Sandwell Council has repeatedly stolen these vital community assets, casting aside the collective well-being for short-term gains. The consequences are dire, with once vibrant green oases now lost to concrete and urban sprawl.
This is the sorrowful saga of The Land Grab — a narrative of betrayal, where Sandwell Council's inhumane actions have desecrated our communal heritage, eroded the fabric of our neighbourhoods, and sacrificed the sanctity of nature for profit.
THIS MAP SHOWS THE PLOTS OF LAND THAT SANDWELL COUNCIL HAVE STOLEN FROM US, AND SOLD THEM (SOME TO THEIR FRIENDS AND ASSOCIATES) DEPRIVING OUR COMMUNITIES OF VALUABLE SOCIAL ASSETS. THIS IS DEPRIVATION IN SANDWELL.
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THE LEVELS OF DEPRIVATION IN OLDBURY AND DEPRIVATION IN ROWLEY REGIS ARE INCREASED WITH EVERY PUBLIC GREEN SPACE STOLEN AND SOLD TO THE PRIVATE SECTOR.
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INEQUALITY IN SANDWELL IS PARAMOUNT.
THE LAND GRAB
DIG JUST BELOW THE SURFACE IN SANDWELL AND YOU'LL FIND DIRT?
PENNCRICKET LANE ALLOTMENTS
THIS IS NOT COINCIDENCE.
THIS IS THE WORK OF LIARS, THIEVES AND CONMEN.
THIS ALLOTMENT LAND HAS BEEN STOOD EMPTY AT THE END OF THE ROAD WHERE I WAS BORN FOR NEARLY 40 YEARS.
IN 2016 AFTER OBTAINING LEGAL DOCUMENTS REGARDING THE OWNERSHIP OF THIS LAND I APPLIED TO UTILISE IT FOR A COMMUNITY PROJECT FOR THE BETTERMENT OF THE LOCAL COMMUNITIES.
SINCE WE PROVIDED THAT INFORMATION, THIS ALLOTMENT LAND HAS BEEN SOLD - FOR NO PURPOSE OTHER THAN GREED & SPITE
SINCE THE DAY SANDWELL COUNCIL STOLE THIS LAND THEY HAVE COMPLETELY IGNORED US AND ABANDONED US
When we applied for this land in 2016, Sandwell Council were not even aware that they owned it!
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The reasons for this were that it had not been catalogued or registered digitally and the people responsible for carrying out this task (the only people who knew of the lands) had retired during that time.
Therefore this parcel of land was forgotten until WE found documents confirming the previous allotment status of the land, and the ownership belonging to the public/ Sandwell Council.
We applied to the Land Registry and purchased the documents that show the boundaries of the allotment, the railway boundaries and the Billies boundaries. All of it was owned by the public/ Sandwell Council.
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WE TOLD SANDWELL COUNCIL IN GOOD FAITH - EVEN THOUGH WE KNEW IT WAS RISKY.
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WE TOLD SANDWELL COUNCIL IN OUR LETTERS AT THE TIME, THAT IT WAS RISKY IN US TELLING THEM!
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WE TOLD SANDWELL COUNCIL THAT THE ALLOTMENT WAS AT RISK FROM IT KNOWING
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WE KNEW SOMEONE IN SANDWELL COUNCIL WOULD HAVE THEIR EYES ON IT.
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WE KNEW IT WOULD BE SOLD.
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WE TOLD THEM IT WOULD BE SOLD.
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WE WEREN'T EVEN OFFERED IT. WE WEREN'T EVEN TOLD IT WAS FOR SALE!
THEY STOLE IT FROM US AND SOLD IT - AND IT WASN'T THEIRS TO SELL​
SANDWELL COUNCIL IS ANYTHING BUT "WELL".
IT IS AN ABOMINATION OF THE WORD.​
We applied to the Land Registry once again and purchased the new documents that disclose the information of the people that conned their way into purchasing it from under our feet!
Take a look at our story by pressing the button - the stolen allotment.
THE BILLIES/ PENNCRICKET LANE
HISTORICAL LOCAL LAND SOLD OFF!
WERE YOU AWARE. WOULD YOU HAVE BOUGHT IT?
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​HOW MUCH DO YOU THINK IT IS WORTH?
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HOW MUCH DO YOU THINK THAT IT SOLD FOR?
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WHO DO RECKON SOLD IT AND WHO DO YOU RECKON PURCHASED IT? WE WILL TELL YOU.
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Have you lived in the area all of your life and wonder what the hell is going on?
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Do you think this is dodgy?
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Do you want to dig into this and take a look to see what else you will uncover in the underhanded world of Sandwell Council?
PEOPLE - YOU HAVE BEEN ROBBED & YOU DIDN'T EVEN KNOW!
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Did you know or were you ever aware that ANY of this land was private?
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Did you know it was for sale or that it was ever for sale?
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Did you know that THE BILLIES WAS FOR SALE?
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Did you know that it was all public land?
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Did you ever have your horses thrown off by the council for keeping them on PUBLIC LAND?
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Did you ever have your horses thrown off the ALLOTMENT by the railway bridge on Penncricket Lane?
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Did you even know that there was once an allotment on Penncricket Lane?
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Did you know that a big swathe of it has been sold to private developers?
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Did you get the opportunity to buy it?
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Did you even know it was for sale?
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Would you have bought it?
​​Help us to change this. Help us to save our open spaces and we will transform them beyond your imagination. Sign our petition now.
BRANDHALL GOLF COURSE
HISTORICAL LOCAL LAND SOLD OFF!
SOLD OFF TO PRIVATE LANDLORDS
FOR PRIVATE HOUSING
BIG PRIVATE HOUSES FOR THE RICH LANDLORDS, THE CORRUPT AND THE GREEDY.
WHO DO YOU THINK WILL OWN THESE HOUSES?
There is so much to say about Brandhall Golf Course that we have only scratched the surface with the information provided on this website so far. However, even the suggestion of developing it is the most corrupt idea to ever fall out of the mouths of Sandwell "council".
DID YOU KNOW?
BRANDHALL GOLF COURSE IS ONE OF THE VERY RARE PLACES IN SANDWELL THAT HAS NOT BEEN POLLUTED BY THE TOXIC WASTE OF THE PAST!
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BRANDHALL GOLF COURSE IS A SOURCE OF THE RIVER TAME!
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BRANDHALL GOLF COURSE HAS ITS OWN 'PUDDING ROCK' AS CAN BE FOUND ON BARNFORD PARK!
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BRANDHALL GOLF COURSE CONTAINS RARE SPECIES OF THE SAME FUNGI THAT MADE OTHER GREEN SPACES INTO SITES OF SCIENTIFIC IMPORTANCE!
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BRANDHALL GOLF COURSE HAS BEEN HOME AND A RESTING PLACE FOR RARE BIRDS SUCH AS THE BLACK REDSTART, GOSHAWK, KINGFISHER AND WILLOW TIT THAT HAVE BEEN SEEN HERE!
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BRANDHALL GOLF COURSE IS A HAVEN FOR RARE INSECTS SUCH AS THE EMPORER DRAGONFLY, BUTTERFLIES, NEWTS AND OTHER ENDANGERED AND THREATENED INSECTS!
DID YOU KNOW?
SANDWELL COUNCIL COULDN'T CARE LESS!
CLICK THE BUTTON - GO TO BRAND HELL!
THE BRANDHELL ESTATE
THIS IS OUR VISION
GRAFTON ROAD ALLOTMENT
EARMARKED FOR WHO?
We are sick of asking, only to be told "they're in use"!
Who's got an allotment then?
Seriously, who has an allotment on Grafton Road?
Grafton Road has an allotment. It is another corrupt story from the Sandwell Legacy.
It was used, then just as it was about to be closed, an 8ft palisade fence and gates were erected, then it was abandoned.
So we asked Sandwell Council to reopen it, or let us, on several occasions throughout our miserable lives here, and we were told the same thing every time; "it is in use by someone". Sadunwell Council deprive us this much.
Let's be totally honest, we have 70+ allotments this side of the Wolverhampton Road, so corrupt just doesn't even begin to describe it.
Someone needs to answer for this.
LION FARM FIELDS
SOLD FOR RETAIL - LIKE WE NEED SHOPS
IS THERE A BETTER WAY
OR HAVE WE JUST SOLD OUT?
This field is the only thing Lion Farm has ever had, since day 1.
We are not against progress, but we are against progress at any cost. There has to be a balance, and we live in an age where we can achieve anything, so let us achieve something extraordinary - together.
Remember, these are OUR only fields, so if they are sacrificed, then local people and the community should benefit first. If development is required for economical progress, then that must relate to local jobs, local training, and future local prospects before anyone and anything else. And that is a LOT of jobs.
The fields (or open space) doesn't have to be lost. In fact, a more bio-diverse environment could possibly be achieved with intelligent construction, using vertical garden and rooftop garden designs for example, that allow for a broader diversity of plants, and wildlife.
At the other end of the scale, we still have to have space, we still need parks, we still need more allotments, we still need our social club back, we still need places for our children and our communities to meet and thrive, we still need major investment, and if Sandwell Council cannot provide that, then either we will make it work ourselves, or we will make the developers pay for the lot!
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IF DEVELOPERS WANT OUR PRIME LAND, THEN THEY CAN PAY PREMIUM FOR IT
AND SANDWELL COUNCIL SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED TO TOUCH THAT MONEY WITH THEIR STICKY FINGERS.
ACTIVIST GROUPS
FOI REQUESTS
BROOK ROAD PARK
NO PARKS FOR THIS ESTATE FOR OVER A DECADE!
Brook Road playing field, as the name suggests, WAS a park. It was a very small park with a slide and some swings and a grass field. It was rubbish, but it was all that a large estate like this had. Sandwell Council sold the half with the park on to build a PDSA veterinary centre. They have sold the rest for housing.
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And what did we get in the local area? What we got was dog crap scattered everywhere from the people that now walk all around the area when they go to the PDSA and have to wait. The kids step in it, the pathways and grass are covered in it and the bins are full of it.
THE 'BACK OF' THE BILLIES
SOLD FOR COMMERCIAL USE AND FINANCIAL GAIN
BYE BYE DRAGONFLY!
BYE BYE BULLFROGS!
BYE BYE NEWTS!
This area was once the Cakemore arm of Titford Canal network until it was cut off during the construction of the M5 motorway, leaving it isolated and abandoned. As kids we used to play over there, and by then the old canal had become a bog land and marshland full of reeds and the brook (The River Tame), that ran alongside it, had sloping soil banks with trees and shrubs all the way along both sides.
It was full of frogs and toads and newts, but the one thing that stood out the most was the dragonflies. There was not another place for miles around where you could see even one dragonfly, yet here, you could just turn up and watch them hunt! There were so many dragonflies, and some of them where so huge that you could hear the alternate wing beats.
There were bats, hedgehogs and foxes too, but now look at it.
It is gone forever, and for what?
PUBLIC ASSET BUILDINGS
WHAT BECAME OF THESE?
PARK KEEPERS HOUSES
WHERE DID ALL OF OUR PARK KEEPERS HOUSES GO?
BARNFORD PARK
We wonder how our park keepers houses have been sold off, just like this one, which is at the Green Flag Awarded Barnford Park, on the other side of the A4123.
The land was presented to the Borough of Oldbury in 1915 by Mr W. A. Albright of Albright and Wilson, the chemical manufacturer, one of the largest Oldbury firms. A plaque on the Park Keeper’s House commemorated this event, recording that Mr Albright presented the Park to the Borough of Oldbury -
'FOR THE USE OF THE PUBLIC FOREVER'
So how did it come to be sold? Who sold it? Who purchased it?
If it can be turned into a viable business as a children's nursery, then surely the people whom it belonged to should benefit. Surely some of them would have jumped at the chance for a job in a community nursery?
Food for thought.
BRITANNIA PARK
SIMPLY REPLACING WHAT THEY NEGLECTED
UPDATE COMING SOON
IT'S 2026 & WE ARE SUPPOSED TO BE GRATEFUL FOR A £250k PLAY AREA?
HAVE YOU SEEN HOW MUCH THEY SPENT ON:
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LIGHTWOODS PARK?
WARLEY WOODS?
WEST SMETHWICK PARK?
THIS IS A COMPLETE FARCE -
JUST LIKE WE TOLD YOU IT WOULD BE.
The perfect example of NEGLECT. Britannia Park was once a beautiful park. It had a stunning garden area, changing rooms, a pavilion overlooking the tennis courts and the bowling green, a superb park, a cricket pitch, several football pitches and it had a PARK KEEPERS HOUSE.
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Now it is getting a makeover as part of the governments £19M investment in Rowley Regis.
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The real reason that the park is getting a makeover is that it is soon to become another one of Sandwell Councils 'tended-to back gardens', because as part of the "upgrade" to the park, they are building themselves a new "HUB". This is a place that they will call the office and it is ALSO where we can go to raise our issues with them!
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So you are getting your PARK REPLACED NOT A NEW PARK,
Which is still good, but it is for the wrong reasons & it's about 30 years overdue.
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What is ironic is that if Sandwell Council hadn't got rid of the park-keepers and sold the park-keepers houses to 'save money', then the parks would not have got vandalised and neglected in the first instance, and right now, we would have had a far superior park.
LIBRARIES
WHERE HAVE OUR LIBRARIES GONE?
THERE IS A BIG UPDATE ON IT'S WAY...
WASTED PUBLIC ASSET
SALOP DRIVE ALLOTMENTS
To put it bluntly, it's another complete farce, and further proof that on the north-side of the A4123 they have and waste far too many resources. The Hive Effect, has been battling to put our own private polytunnels and beehives on a very small, old allotment site at The Billies on Penncricket Lane, for public use, for over 10 years. Now, AS IF BY MAGIC, the allotments have been MYSTERIOUSLY sold, and the beehives are still cluttered up in a greenhouse.
The facilities on the Salop Drive allotment are superb.
There are several Polytunnels - empty or full of junk.
There is a heated greenhouse - empty.
There are dozens of allotment plots - empty and unused.
There is a huge piece of ground - unkempt and mostly unused.
There is a further acre of ground - unmanaged and overgrown with grass and weeds.
There is an orchard - overgrown and unkempt.
There was a sensory garden - but it was too dangerous and its overgrown and unkempt.
There are toilets, a classroom, a community garden and more, just stood there.
It is not exactly 'IDEAL FOR ALL' is it?
We would treasure our project and our people, and it is for reasons like this, that our spaces would not go to waste and our people would not suffer as a consequence.
WE DON'T HAVE ENOUGH PARKS TO SUPPORT OUR EXISTING POPULATION ON THE SOUTH-SIDE OF THE A4123
WE DON'T HAVE ENOUGH OPEN SPACES TO SUPPORT OUR HEALTH AND WELLBEING ON THE SOUTH-SIDE OF THE A4123
WE DON'T HAVE ENOUGH OPEN SPACES TO SUPPORT OR SUSTAIN NATURE ON THE SOUTH-SIDE OF THE A4123
WE DON'T HAVE ANY ALLOTMENTS ON THE SOUTH-SIDE OF THE A4123
WE HAVE NO PROPER COMMUNITY CENTRES ON THE SOUTH-SIDE OF THE A4123
WE HAVE NONE OF THIS BECAUSE SAD-UNWELL COUNCIL NEGLECTED US FOR OVER 40 YEARS.
NOW, SANDWELL COUNCIL ARE TRYING TO SELL US OUT COMPLETELY.
CORRUPTED WATER
FOLLOW THE WATER & YOU WILL SEA, NO FUTURE HERE FOR HUMAN NOR BEE!
Healthy rivers are vital for biodiversity and to human health and well-being. Rivers provide habitats for a range of wildlife, protect against flooding and provide beautiful places for recreation and reflection.
Freshwater ecosystems are in crisis globally and in England there are concerns about the multiple stresses being placed on riverine biodiversity from bacteria from sewage pollution.​
UK PARLIAMENT PUBLICATION